A Long Road: A Homestuck AU
by theorangetwin
Summary: Nepeta and Equius have been friends for life, but let's face it; they live two completely different lives, from their houses down to the food they eat. He wants to stop her from getting her self in too deep. She doesn't want to bother him with her problems. Can they do it?
1. Chapter 1

Hello :33 So this is a new Homestuck AU idea that I had. This chapter is a little short, but hopefully I can update weekly, along with my other Soul x Maka fanfiction that I am writing. Anyway, enjoy the first chapter. :33

**disclaimer: I do not own Homestuck.**

* * *

><p>Night has fallen in the suburbs. A dimly lit house holds a sleepy Equius, who, after a long day at school, finally decides to lay his head down to rest. He shuts the lights off, and as he lies down, his head slowly hits his fluffy blue pillow, and begins to drift into sleep.<p>

*clink clink*

'_No.'_ Equius thought. '_Now of all times? You couldn't have come sooner?' _With reluctance he pushed himself away from his wonderful, warm bed, and walked to the window that was being assaulted by tiny pebbles. He knew who was waking him so late at night; this isn't the first time it's happened. He opened his window, and with sarcasm he said, "You know, you _are_ allowed to use the front door." He looked down, and there stood a little Nepeta, with her tattered clothes that are 3 sizes too large for her. She had her usual bright smile, despite the fact that she's standing in cold, wet grass, shoe-less at 2am.

"I know! But it's more fun this way! It's like a fairytale or something!"

"It's called Romeo & Juliet, dummy. Now come inside before you get hypothermia."

"Yes, sir!" With a happy face, Nepeta flung the rest of the pebbles she was holding into the air, and marched happily to the front door.

Equius dragged himself slowly down the stairs, and to the front door. There stood a cheery Nepeta, waiting patiently for her best friend.

"Equius!" she shouted.

He winced at the loudness of her voice. "Quiet down. It's way too late at night for you to be this happy." He motioned for her to come inside, and she skipped into the house. "You're lucky I live alone, or else my parents would kill you."

Narrator: You see, Equius is part of the higher class. His parents own their own house (more like mansion), and they decided that Equius was old enough to have his own small house next to theirs. Many people can't even fathom the wealth of the Zahhak family. The only people who know the extent of his wealth are his close friends, who are all significantly less rich than him. His best and sometimes only friend is Nepeta, who lives quite the opposite life, but enough back story for now, let's see what those crazy two are up to.

"Enough fun for now, let's go to bed please?" said Equius, staring at the board game that Nepeta had pulled out from his closet. They had played four rounds, and Nepeta was setting up for another round. "Come on, Equius! Where's your spirit? One more round please?"

"No, Nepeta-"

"But, Equius, please I-"

"**Nepeta." **He shouted. Nepeta looked up at him with sad eyes. He knew she had finally given up. Equius got up slowly, abandoning the game, and scooped Nepeta into his arms, bringing her to his bedroom, and laying her down into his bed. "You sleep here, okay?" A frightened look crossed her face. "B-but Equius, where are you gonna sleep?"  
>"I'll be right downstairs in the living room, okay? Come get me if you need anything."<p>

Equius turned away from the bedside and walked to the door, shutting off the lights before he disappeared downstairs into the dark.  
>Nepeta pulled the blankets up towards her head, and curled herself into a ball. She closed her eyes as tight as she could and tried to imagine positive, totally non-nightmarish things, but to no avail. She couldn't stop shaking, and couldn't keep her eyes shut. After just 15 minutes of lying in bed, she couldn't take it anymore. She jumped up, grabbed a blanket and ran downstairs. But something stopped her.<p>

There was Equius, sound asleep on the couch. She had kept him up for another 3 hours, even though he kept telling her he wanted to sleep. He had the TV on, which made Nepeta feel guilty, but happy. '_He left the TV on for me.' _Equius knows that Nepeta doesn't like to sleep in the dark, although he's trying to break her from it. '_He probably knew I was going to come down here. I can't let him down again.' _With her head down and tears in her eyes, Nepeta slowly walked back upstairs to the bedroom to spend another restless night until Equius awoke once again.


	2. Chapter 2

Ahhh, morning! After Equius got 3 semi-decent hours of sleep, and Nepeta received absolutely none, it was finally time to wake up. Since Equius was already downstairs, he decided breakfast was in order; bacon and eggs and toast, and some exquisite milk, just for Nepeta. He seemed extra skipper for some reason, despite only sleeping a few hours on his uncomfortable couch, as he flitted around the kitchen from the fridge to the stove and back again. Little footsteps patted the stairs as Nepeta slowly descended. "*yawn*" she exclaimed, while stretching her limbs.

"Good morning, Equius, you're up early."

"'Morning, Nep. How'd you sleep?" He said, obviously not entirely awake yet.

"Like a dream. My little cat naps don't compare." She giggled. A look of relief crossed Equius' face. "I'm glad you slept well."

He then returned to his cooking, turning off the stove and taking the pans off the heat. "Nepeta, can you grab a couple of plates and set them on the table? Some glasses too?" "Sure, thing!" She gladly hopped over to the cabinet and grabbed two plates from the shelf.

*CRASH*

Equius whipped around to find Nepeta on the ground surrounded by broken porcelain, rubbing her head. "Nepeta!" He ran over and grabbed her arm, yanking her off the ground and onto the other side of the broken glass. "What's wrong with you? Are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm okay." She looked down to see that her finger was spotted with blood. "You're bleeding!" He quickly ran upstairs to grab a towel, but before he made it back downstairs, Nepeta had called for him. "Ummm, Equius? I think you should come back down here."

_'What? Why?'_ He ran back down stairs, to find that Nepeta had begun bleeding even more, with a stream of blood dripping down her hand. "What the hell?" He shouted. This time he actually got a towel, and pulled her out to the car. "Where are we going?" She looked worried. She knew what his answer was going to be.  
>"The hospital."<br>"What?! No, you can't take me to the hospital. I hate hospitals. Equius please don't make me go." She exclaimed.  
>"Nepeta, I understand that you don't like hospitals, but I'd rather make you uncomfortable than have you bleed to death. Understood?" He was using his "stern voice", the one that Nepeta didn't like. With a 'hmph' she sat back in her seat. "Fine." she whimpered, and off they went.<p>

*later at the hospital*

"So, why was her finger bleeding so badly, Doctor?"

"Her blood pressure was ridiculously high. It often causes excessive bleeding, and a lot of times is caused by emotions. I'm going to assume that's the case here, because we did a quick check on her, and everything else is fine. Is she stressed out, not eating, not sleeping?" It wasn't hard to figure out which it was._ 'Damn it, Nepeta.'_ He wasn't mad, per se, just worried about her health. Although, he was a little mad that she lied to him about sleeping. "Thank you, Doctor."  
>He walked back into the room, where Nepeta was lying, intently watching cartoons. He walked over to her bedside and sat in the chair there, and turned off the TV before she could protest. Nepeta turned to him. "Hey-!" Before she could finish Equius flicked her nose. She grasped her face.<br>"Ow!"  
>"That was for lying to me. Nepeta, when was the last time you actually slept?" First she looked shocked, and then she looked down at her hands, not answering Equius. "Why don't you sleep at home? You have a TV in your room don't you? There's no reason for you to not be sleeping, Nepeta. Answer me." He grabbed her face and pulled it up, but what faced him wasn't Nepeta. What faced him was a scared, lonely, teary-eyed girl who couldn't even tell her best friend what was wrong, and it scared him. "Equius..." There was a long pause between the both of them, causing Equius' faith in his ability to help Nepeta to drop dramatically, before she began speaking again.<p>

"I got kicked out of my house!" She said suddenly. Nepeta was as surprised as Equius when she said that. She had been waiting 2 months to tell him, and she didn't think it would happen like that.

"You were kicked out of your house? Why didn't you tell me? You know you're always welcome to stay with me." he shouted. He took a deep breath, regaining his composure. _'She's already upset; try not to yell at her.'_

"Nepeta, why didn't you tell me?" he said, softer this time.

"Because I had it all under control. I still do have it under control. Just, some nights I need to stay at your place." She exasperated.

"So, where are you staying when you aren't at my house?"

"A friend's house. You met him once, right? His name is Karkat. He's really cool once you get to know him. I'll even ask if I can bring show you were he lives and everything. Does that sound okay?" She said the last part quietly.

Equius thought about it for a minute. _'Well, I could just tell her to stay at my place and be over with it. No, I have to give her a chance to live on her own. She seems pretty happy, and as long as I can keep an eye on her, I don't see the harm in meeting the guy.'_

"Okay, deal. But you have to promise me something. You **will** come to me if there's anything wrong at all, got it?"

Her smile stretched across her whole face as she reached across the bed and hugged him. "Thank you, Equius! I promise I won't let you down."

*the next day*

Equius and Nepeta strolled down a cracked path in the middle of the city, leading to a destination unknown to Equius. Growing up in that lifestyle Equius did, he had never personally walked the streets that he had driven by so many times in his expensive car. '_It's like a new world out here.'_ Without the car windows to shield his view, the streets seemed so much more…. dead. He glared at Nepeta, who seemed her usual self as she guided Equius down several streets and sketchy looking alleyways, thinking, _'How is she okay with all of this trash a-and this, dirt?'. _

While Equius was deep in thought, he hadn't realized that Nepeta had reached her destination. "Here we are! Home." Where she pointed to was a small, slightly beaten apartment building. Just by the look of it, Equius knew he wasn't going to enjoy this.

They entered the apartment building, and took in their surroundings. While Nepeta was quite content, Equius was not. "It's on the third floor." They began their ascent to the third floor, Equius regretting every step. Finally, they reached the last room on floor three, which even from the outside looked more dingy than the rest. With a quick rap on the door, there was no turning back now.

The door opened up to reveal a mop of messy black hair, and a rather displeased face beneath it.

"Why'd you knock? Don't you have a key?" said Karkat. You could practically feel the air between Equius and Nepeta become tenser, Nepeta knowing exactly what Equius was thinking. He already did not like the way Karkat spoke to Nepeta, but before he said anything, he stopped himself. '_I can't be mean. I have to be nice for Nepeta.' _ Thankfully, Nepeta stepped in. She scratched the back of her head and laughed playfully. "I guess I left it here again. Silly me."

"Just don't forget it next time, okay? Because you know, you do live here." He said the last part with a smirk, and Nepeta let out a small giggle. "Well, come on in!" exclaimed Nepeta. She dragged Equius inside the small apartment and shut the door behind him, making him feel that much more uncomfortable. "So this is where I live. This is Karkat, obviously." she pointed to Karkat, who returned to his place on the couch, "This is his apartment, but he lets me stay here. We've been friends since elementary school. Well, actually, he's a few years older than me." Equius glared at Nepeta. He did not like the idea of her living with an older boy, but once again he decided to let it go.

They took a "tour" of the apartment and they all talked for a little while. Afterwards, Equius actually felt alright with Nepeta staying here. "I'm entrusting her to you, Vantas." said Equius, as he shook Karkat's hand. He sounded less like her friend, and more like her dad. "Umm, thanks, I guess."

Nepeta gave Equius a huge hug, and just as she was about to open the door, it swung open and hit the wall rather forcefully. Equius looked questioningly at Nepeta, whose expression became serious. "Oh, Equius," she said rather shakily (no normal friend could catch on to it, except for maybe Equius and Karkat) "This is Gamzee. He's also staying here with us."

'_Absolutely. Not.'_


End file.
